A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

Writing a Business Plan?

Starting a business? Entrepreneurs know that dreaming up a business idea is the easy part — it’s making your dreams come to fruition that’s the real challenge. And one of the first steps to taking on that challenge is creating a business plan, a task that can be pretty daunting no matter how great your idea is. Your business plan is essentially your map to success — it’s an outline of the goals, research and projections you have for your new company so that you can stay on the right track, and is an especially important document to have if you’re seeking funding. Business News Daily asked business owners, strategists and experts what the most difficult part of writing a business plan is. Here are 7 challenges you’ll face writing your business plan.

Actually starting it

The hardest part about writing a business plan is getting it started. Lock yourself in a room, turn off your phone and focus.

Filling out your financials

The most difficult part of writing a business plan is the financial section. It is difficult to project figures on a brand-new business with, possibly, a brand-new concept. There is not roadmap, no one to follow. The best you can do is find a similar company and try to gauge what they are making.

Knowing your demographics

The hardest but most important piece is getting your target demographics dialed in properly. You need to know who you’ll be selling to and how big the market is to estimate with some accuracy how many people you can reach and sell your product or service to.

Planning for tech changes

Predicting the unforeseen technology variables that the future holds is a challenge. When I started my business nearly 10 years ago, there was no marketing on Facebook, and Twitter and Instagram did not yet exist. Today, these social media platforms play a huge role in my business’ marketing strategy and directly affect sales.

Being concise

One of the top challenges is keeping it short and sweet. The more concise and focused a plan is, the more likely business owners are to achieve the goals they have set out for themselves and their business.

Making it interesting

The hardest thing about writing a business plan is being able to tell your story in such a way that people buy into your idea. If you tell a lousy story, people won’t want to invest.

Establishing workable goals

Establishing clear, concise and understandable goals — these goals must also be realistic. When people can’t see the vision of the plan, they won’t take action to pursue the plan. In addition, by having set goals that align with your plan, you have measureable targets to track your progress.